Paul Butler (born 11 November 1988) is an English

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and two-time

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

world champion, having held the IBF title in 2014 and the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

title in 2022. He also held multiple regional titles, including the British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

super-flyweight titles in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Amateur career

Butler won the 2010

Amateur Boxing Association England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Ireland being organised on ...

British flyweight title, when boxing out of the Vauxhall Motors ABC.

Professional career

Career beginnings

Early career

Butler made his professional debut against Anwar Alfadi on 11 December 2010. He won the fight on points, after four rounds were contested. Butler amassed an 8–0 record during the next 23 months, with three of those victories coming by way of stoppage. Butler faced John Donnelly for the vacant British super-flyweight title on 9 November 2012 at the Liverpool Olympia in

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. Butler won the BoxNation broadcast bout by a first–round knockout. He floored Donnelly with a strike to the ribs after just 59 seconds, which left Donnelly unable to rise in time for the ten–count. During the post–fight drug test, Donnelly tested positive for benzoylecgonine. Following a fourth–round technical knockout of Anwar Alfadi on 21 March 2013, Butler challenged

Yaqub Kareem Yaqub Kareem (born in Lagos) is a Nigerian professional super fly/ bantam/super bantamweight boxer of the 2000s and 2010s who won the Commonwealth super flyweight title, his professional fighting weight varied from , i.e. super flyweight to , ...

for the Commonwealth super-flyweight title on 20 April 2013, at the

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. He won the fight by a fifth–round technical–knockout. Butler made his first and only Commonwealth title defense against

Najah Ali Najah Salah Ali (born c. 1980) is an Iraqi professional boxer, who was the only Iraqi boxer to qualify for the 2004 Athens, Greece Olympics. Career Ali became interested in boxing as a young child, but most boxing gyms in Iraq at the time were ...

on 28 June 2013. He won the fight by a fourth–round knockout. Butler faced Miguel González for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super-flyweight title on 21 September 2013. He won the fight by a dominant unanimous decision, with scores of 117–112, 119–110 and 120–108. Butler made the first defense of his secondary title defense against Ruben Montoya on 7 December 2013, with the vacant WBA Inter-Continental super-flyweight title being on the line as well. He once again won by unanimous decision, with scores of 120–108, 120–109 and 118–110. Butler moved up to bantamweight for his next bout against Oreste Bernabe Nieva, which took place on 8 March 2014, with the vacant WBA Inter-Continental bantamweight title being on the line. He won the fight by a fourth–round knockout.

IBF bantamweight champion

Butler was scheduled to challenge the reigning IBF

champion Stuart Hall, in the latter's second title defense. The bout was scheduled for 7 June 2014, and took place at the

Utilita Arena Newcastle The Utilita Arena Newcastle (formerly the Newcastle Arena, Telewest Arena and Metro Radio Arena) is a large indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global and sponsored by Utilita Energy, it hosts ...

in Newcastle, England, the champion's hometown. The bout was broadcast by BoxNation. Butler won the fight by split decision. Two judges scored the fight 117–111 and 115–113 for Butler, while the third judge scored it 115–113 for Hall. Butler had a slow start to fight, but appeared to take over as the fight progressed. Butler faced Ismael Garnica in a non–title bout on 25 October 2014, at the Echo Arena in

. He dominated the fight from start to finish, and won by unanimous decision, with all three judges awarding him every single round of the bout. Following his victory against Garnica, Butler relinquished the IBF bantamweight title, in order to compete against fighters with whom he had size parity, stating "...I’m a natural 115 pounder".

Post championship career

Return to super-flyweight

After vacating the IBF bantamweight title, Butler moved back down to super–flyweight in order to challenge the reigning IBF

super-flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council responded to pressure from Asi ...

champion

Zolani Tete Zolani Tete (born 8 March 1988) is a South African professional boxer. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019. Early life and am ...

. The title bout was scheduled as the main event of a BoxNation broadcast card, which was held on 6 March 2015. Tete won the fight by an eight–round technical knockout. He floored Butler with two consecutive left uppercuts, which left the challenger unable to rise from the canvas in time to beat the ten count. After suffering the first loss of his professional career, Butler jumped up in weight to

super-bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...

, in order to face Gustavo Molina on 11 July 2015. He won the fight by a fifth-round technical knockout. After successfully bouncing back from his loss to Tete, Butler returned to super-flyweight to face Hector Rolando Gusman on 3 October 2015. He won the fight by a first-round knockout, stopping Gusman with a body shot just thirty seconds into the bout. Butler faced Silviu Olteanu for the vacant

European super-flyweight title on 19 December 2015. He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout, stopping the Romanian with a well place hook to the body. Butler next faced Sebastian Sanchez for the vacant WBO International super-flyweight title on 12 March 2016. He won the fight by a ninth-round knockout.

Return to bantamweight

Butler vs. Ruiz

Butler faced Alexis Ruiz on 22 October 2016, in his return to bantamweight. He won the fight on points.

Butler vs. Cazares

Butler faced Alexander Cazares on 3 December 2016, and once again won the fight on points.

Butler vs. Ruiz

Butler notched his second ever stoppage victory at bantamweight against Ruben Dario Ruiz on 8 April 2017, as he knocked Ruiz out in the fourth round.

Butler vs. Hall

Butler faced Stuart Hall for the vacant WBA Continental bantamweight title on 17 September 2017. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111.

Butler vs. Rodriguez

Butler was scheduled face the undefeated Emmanuel Rodríguez for the vacant IBF bantamweight title on 5 May 2018, at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the ...

, on the undercard of the Tony Bellew and

David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Ama ...

cruiserweight rematch. Rodriguez was ranked #3 by the IBF at bantamweight at the time. Butler missed weight prior to the bout, which left him ineligible to win the vacant belt. He weighed in at 121.5 pounds, 3.5 pounds over the championship limit. Butler furthermore refused to weigh himself in a second attempt. Rodríguez won the fight by a dominant unanimous decision, with scores of 118-108, 120-106, 120-106. Butler was knocked down twice in the final minute of the first round, and failed to achieve much headway during the remaining eleven rounds.

Butler vs. Boyeaux

Butler returned to action six months later, on 3 November 2018, to face Yoan Boyeaux. He won the fight on points.

Butler vs. Majiha

Butler faced Fadhili Majiha on 30 March 2019, and again won the fight on points.

Butler vs. Sanchez

Butler notched his first bantamweight stoppage victory in two years on 18 May 2019, knocking Salvador Hernandez Sanchez out in the sixth-round.

Butler vs. Reyes

Butler faced the journeyman Joseafat Reyes on 22 September 2019, and won the fight on points.

Butler vs. Walker

Butler's sole fight of 2020 came on 18 October, against Ryan Walker, whom he beat on points.

Butler vs. Garcia

Butler was expected to face

Joseph Agbeko Joseph Agbeko (born 22 March 1980) is a Ghanaian professional boxer. He is a two-time former bantamweight world champion, having held the IBF title twice between 2007 and 2011. Additionally he held the Commonwealth bantamweight title from 2004 to ...

for the vacant WBO International bantamweight title on 25 June 2021. Agbeko was forced to withdraw from the bout due to visa issues, and was replaced by Willibaldo Garcia. Butler won the fight by split decision, with scores of 96-94, 97-92 and 94-95.

Second bantamweight title reign

Butler vs. Sultan

Butler was booked to fight Jonas Sultan on 22 April 2022, at the M&S Bank Arena in

for the vacant WBO interim bantamweight title. Butler was originally scheduled to challenge WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero in 11 December 2021 and 22 April 2022, before Casimero withdrew before the weigh-ins due to gastritis, and not being permitted by British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) due to medical guidelines violation, respectively. Sultan was ranked #10 by The Ring, #4 by the WBA, #4 by the WBO and #12 by the IBF at bantamweight. Butler captured the vacant title by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 117–111 and 117–111, utilizing out-fighting tactics to control the fight for the majority of the bout. On May 4, the WBO officially stripped Casimero of the full title and elevated Butler from interim to full champion.

Butler vs. Inoue

On 25 August 2022, it was announced that Butler would face undefeated

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

, WBC, IBF, and '' The Ring'' bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in a title unification bout. It took place on 13 December 2022, at the

Ariake Arena The Ariake Arena is a multi-sport venue located in Ariake, Tokyo, Japan. It served as the volleyball venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the wheelchair basketball knockout stage at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. This was the replacement of the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Japan, and was broadcast by

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

domestically and by

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The c ...

in the United States. It was Butler's first fight outside of the United Kingdom. He lost the fight by 11th round KO.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Paul Butler - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Paul 1988 births Living people English male boxers Sportspeople from Chester People from Ellesmere Port England Boxing champions British Boxing Board of Control champions Commonwealth Boxing Council champions Flyweight boxers Super-flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers World bantamweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Organization champions

Amateur career

Professional career

Career beginnings

Early career

IBF bantamweight champion

Post championship career

Return to super-flyweight

Return to bantamweight

Butler vs. Ruiz

Butler vs. Cazares

Butler vs. Ruiz

Butler vs. Hall

Butler vs. Rodriguez

Butler vs. Boyeaux

Butler vs. Majiha

Butler vs. Sanchez

Butler vs. Reyes

Butler vs. Walker

Butler vs. Garcia

Second bantamweight title reign

Butler vs. Sultan

Butler vs. Inoue

Professional boxing record

See also

References

External links